Obituary

Dr. Frederick H. (Fred) Kasten, 87, Johnson City, Tennessee, died Monday, April 14, 2014 at the Johnson City Medical Center following a lengthy illness. The son of the late Isaac Kasten and Anna Goldblum Kasten, Fred was born in Harlem, New York City and raised in the Bronx. He maintained contact with the “Amerks Club,” a group of childhood friends. He grew up in the Jewish faith. He went to New York City public schools, graduated from Samuel Gompers Vocational High School with a specialty in radio electronics and the Bronx High School of Science. He also took evening courses at Morris and Theodore Roosevelt High Schools. Fred was a World War II veteran, having served with the Merchant Marines as a radio operator in the North African Theatre and with the U.S. Navy as an aviation electronics technician. Fred was an internationally recognized cell biologist and historian of science and medicine. He was the author of three books, more than 25 scientifi c book chapters, 70 research publications, 35 reviews and many miscellaneous letters and obituaries. He

well known as a scientifi c historian, beginning with Robert Feulgen, who fi rst applied a Schiff reagent in histochemistry. A number of Fred ' s publications document the work of Feulgen, and many other contributions of Feulgen and his contemporaries to our current understanding of histochemistry and cytochemistry. In later years, Fred also developed a strong interest in the work of Ehrlich and some of this work also has been published. Fred was a fi rm believer in understanding the history of scientifi c knowledge as a foundation for future investigations.
Fred will be remembered for his many scientifi c contributions, his sharp wit, and his love of his garden, which occupied his time during his retirement.

Encouragement to develop a new stain
I fi rst met Fred Kasten in 1983 at the Annual Meeting of the Biological Stain Commission, shortly after I had joined the organization. As was his enduring custom, he sought me out and welcomed me as a newcomer. Over the intervening years, we always managed to have lengthy and pleasant conversations. As a histochemist, I had known of Fred ' s work through the scientifi c literature and was well aware of his seminal work on Schiff reagents (see Bibliography from 1958Bibliography from through 1964. Thanks to those references, and especially to our personal conversations at BSC meetings, I was able to solve a problem for the demonstration of Helicobactor pylori .
In the late 1980 ' s, there was heightened interest in gastric and duodenal ulcers, stomach cancer and their relationship to the bacterium, Helicobactor pylori . Giemsa-type stains had been used to demonstrate the organism, but afforded rather poor contrast because Helicobacter lies embedded in mucus. Silver stains were suitable when they worked, but they were capricious, time-consuming and expensive. For many labs, the method of choice was to stain mucus yellow with Alcian yellow, then reveal the bacteria with toluidine blue. Blue against yellow was much easier to read than blue against purple or purple against pink. Unfortunately, just when the technique gained popularity, Alcian yellow became unavailable. Even the starting components for its synthesis were obsolete. Because mucus is readily stained with the periodic acid-Schiff procedure, I decided to try to make a yellow Schiff reagent. Fred graciously took me through a variety of options and encouraged me to proceed. The trick was not just to make a yellow Schiff, but to make it look just like Alcian yellow, a very clear, pure yellow color without a hint of green or brown. co-leaders of the New Orleans Manic-Depressive Association for 12 years. Fred had been an amateur ham radio operator since 1944 and contacted two hundred countries as a DX'er. He enjoyed his hobby of growing unusual and large vegetables and won honors at the Appalachian Fair.

Remembering Fred Kasten
Fred H. Kasten, Ph.D., was  This book chapter summarized the areas of science that inspired Fred ' s scientifi c curiosity and continued throughout his career. At the time this book chapter was published, Fred already was the author of fi fteen papers in major journals including Nature , Histochemie , Acta Histochemistry , J. Cell Biology , J. National Cancer Institute , and J. Histochemistry and Cytochemistry . Two of these papers remain as seminal papers for anyone interested in Schiff reagents and their use in histochemistry. These two papers together are the defi nitive study of dyes that can be used to form Schiff reagents and the protocols for preparing these reagents. Fred also published a third paper directed specifi cally toward the formation of fl uorescent Schiff type reagents. It should be noted the fi rst of the Schiff reagent papers appeared in 1959 (Schiff-type reagents in cytochemistry. Theoretical and practical considerations. Histochemie 1 : 466 -509, 1959).
Fred continued his interest in Schiff type reagents throughout his career and he also contributed to the quantitative use of these reagents. Fred became worked and essays about the historical context within such people worked. Abstracts, book reviews and letters are not listed . I perfected a yellow Schiff stain that had good shelf life, but despaired that I could not make the solution colorless. Again, Fred helped out by explaining why and when leuco forms are created. During synthesis of a Schiff reagent, if the sulfurous acid attaches to the dye in a way that alters the chromophore, color is lost to create the leuco form. Attachment sites are not always within the chromophore, however, in which case color is preserved and the leuco form cannot be made. I was happy with that explanation and went to market with a viable product. Fred ' s interest in the project and his helpfulness were and are deeply appreciated. I am certain that everyone in the Biological Stain Commission benefi tted from the breadth of accomplishment of this amazing man.

Richard W. Dapson, 2014
Collaborating with Taiwanese  " I had corresponded with Dr. Kasten in 2009 concerning the use of SG cells (human Smulow-Glickman cells), an oral keratinocyte cell line he had established. Although we never met, I felt that he was a very kind and enthusiastic person through the e-mails. I had written several e-mails to him before submitting the manuscript, but he never replied to me, probably, I now realize, because of his illness. I promised him that he would be one of the co-authors in publications related to SG cells. We had very good results with glycomic analysis of SG cells and we published the manuscript in CCA, 2013. I appreciated his contribution very much. "